Amid Syrian Raids, Reports of Desertions

Monday

Aug 29, 2011 at 11:03 PM

Forces raided several areas, residents and activists said, and there were reports that dozens of soldiers deserted.

NADA BAKRI

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian security forces raided several towns and cities across Syria on Monday, in the latest assault to crush dissent against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, residents and activists said.

The operations, which included towns in western, northern and central Syria, killed at least six people and wounded dozens, they said.

At the same time, there were reports that dozens of soldiers, possibly encouraged by the rout in Libya of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, had deserted their positions in a village near Homs, the country’s third-largest city, and on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, to join the five-month-old popular uprising against Mr. Assad and his Baath Party.

Activists said that since the uprising started in mid-March, most such desertions have taken place in Deir al-Zour, bordering Iraq; in the northwestern province of Idlib; and in towns around Homs and Damascus.

Troops, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, surrounded Rastan, a town near Homs in central Syria that lies along the main highway leading to Turkey, early Monday morning and began firing heavy machine guns, according to the Local Coordination Committees, a group of activists who plan and document the uprising. The activists said at least one person was killed.

A woman in Rastan, reached by telephone, said, “Gunfire and explosion rang across the town early this morning, and we heard that tanks are surrounding the town.” The woman, who asked to be identified only as Um Ammar, added: “We are so scared, too scared to leave the house. We don’t know what they are preparing for us.”

Rastan is known to be a reservoir of recruits for the mostly Sunni rank-and-file army that is led by officers from the Alawite minority sect to which Mr. Assad belongs.

Desertions were first reported in the town three months ago after a military assault there to crush big demonstrations against Mr. Assad’s rule. Dozens were killed and hundreds were arrested in that operation, human rights activists said.

Troops also entered the town of Qara, near Rastan, and tens of protesters were arrested in house raids, residents said.

On Sunday evening, residents said that gun battles raged in Al Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, when dozens of soldiers deserted their positions after they refused to fire at protesters who were trying to march to the capital.

The Free Officers of Syria, a group of soldiers and officers who left the army last month in protest of the crackdown and say that they now represent defectors, published an online statement saying that “large” defections were reported in Harasta, another suburb of Damascus and that armed troops loyal to the government were chasing those defectors.

It was the first reported episode around the capital, which has yet to witness large demonstrations like those seen in Homs and Hama, two cities in central Syria. Activists have been trying for months to encourage residents of Damascus and Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, to join the demonstrations, without much success.

Also on Monday, armed forces raided Heet, a western town along a landscape of rounded hills bordering Lebanon, to crush opposition there, residents said.

“People were running in the fields toward Lebanon trying to escape the gunfire,” said Youssef, a resident in Wadi Khaled, a town on the Lebanese side of the border. “They stormed the village burning houses and crops, and we heard that several people were wounded.”

Activists also said that five people were killed in Sarmin, in the northwestern area of Idlib, when security forces opened fire at residents during search operations.

Monday’s military assault comes a day before Muslims celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan, when they fast from dawn to sunset. Um Ammar, like many others across Syria, said that residents, suffering from six months of unrest during which 2,200 people were killed, are not in a mood to celebrate this year.

“There is grief and sadness all around us,” she said. “How can we celebrate?”

Fayez Sara, one of three prominent opposition figures who were barred from leaving Syria on Sunday to participate in a Lebanese television panel, said, “Syria needs someone to treat to its wounds this Eid.”

He added: “They told us at the border that we can’t leave for our own security. They said we might be kidnapped in Lebanon.”

Many across Damascus are wondering whether and where Mr. Assad would make a public appearance at a mosque for the early prayers marking Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan. Such appearances are traditional among Arab leaders. But Mr. Assad ordered most mosques closed before Ramadan began, trying to block their role as a meeting place to organize protests.